The word righteous is not surprising. We have known a long time that God is righteous. This means He is right. He is just. He deals with sin as sin and judges righteously. Our feelings and wishes do not affect His feelings or ways of judging. We found something in this text which we had not observed before. It is in the original Greek word here translated "shalt be."

The angel of the waters was the one who first acknowledged this in God. Then in the next verse there is a personification, a voice from the altar backing up the verdict by the angel. I like to think that God, Who likes to do all His works through willing instruments, has assigned certain powerful angels to be in charge of certain aspects of His creation.

In light of man's carelessness is it not remarkable that so much good water is left in the world for people to drink. This has continued through the centuries. But at this point, near the return of the Lord, God suddenly turns all those fountains and rivers of waters, even of the sea, into blood like that of a dead man (v. 3).

Human beings still on the earth will be hard put to live at all in such circumstances. I doubt not that God will provide for His own who are still left on earth to that time, even if he has to have someone speak to a rock again, as to Moses of old, and have pure, fresh water come forth. But to have the very angel in charge say that this is right, and men deserve such treatment, ought to give us pause.

The vindication of God is seen in their words: "You are righteous, 'O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be." Can you detect just what is involved in these words? Several times in Scripture it is said that Jesus was, and is, and will come, describing his eternal nature, along with His Father. (Revelation 1:8; Revelation 4:8; Revelation 11:17). This last named passage leaves off the "will come," doubtless because at that point He is represented as having already come. The time sequence has to be observed carefully in Revelation, for it is not always written as sequential.

In Revelation 16:5 where we are studying now we have a different expression. The Greek word occurs eight times in the Bible (New Testament): (Acts 2:27; Acts 13:34, 35; 1 Timothy 2:8; Titus 1:8: Hebrews 7:26: Revelation 15:4; Revelation 16:5). It is translated "holy" four times, "Holy One" two times, "mercies" once, and "shalt be" here. It is an adjective of uncertain affinity, so difficult to figure the sense.

The lexicographers for Greek have left us unsatisfied as to the sense. However, when we study the passages, in context, we begin to get the idea. In each case the one being described by this word is either God, someone praying in a certain way (1 Timothy 2:8), or a saint in a certain disposition (Titus 1:8).

The first passage refers to Christ, but the proof text there quoted from Psalm 16:10, is an obvious reference to the Christ. The two passages in the pastoral epistles, Timothy and Titus, tend to challenge us as to the application to any ordinary human being. Study of these will be necessary.

But looking first at Acts 2:27 we find that Darby translates it "gracious" and Young's Literal New Testament renders it "kind."

Acts 13:34
"mercies" (Authorized Version - AV)
"mercies" (Darby)
"Faithful kindnesses" (Young's Literal Translation - YLT)

Acts 13:35
"Holy One" (AV)
"gracious one" (Darby)
"kind One" (YLT)

1 Timothy 2:8
"holy hands" (AV)
"pious hands" (Darby)
"kind hands" (YLT)

Titus 1:8
"holy" (AV)
"pious" (Darby)
"kind" (YLT)

Hebrews 7:26
"holy" (AV)
"holy" (Darby)
"kind" (YLT)

Revelation 15:4
"holy" (AV and Darby)
"kind" (YLT)

Revelation 16:5
"shalt be" (AV and YLT)
"the Holy One" Darby

Perhaps these references have you even more confused. When the references are to God or Christ I get the idea that the sense is that God is consistently the same, intrinsically right (Thayer's Lexicon.). The basic sense is seen in Exodus 3:14, 15:

"And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this [is] my name for ever, and this [is] my memorial unto all generations."

Study this passage and see that Moses was being told,

"I am the God who made a covenant with Abram, confirmed it with Isaac, and then again with Jacob. I am the covenant keeping God. You can depend on me to be the same always. I never change. My words are always the same and my nature is always the same."

In this oft repeated expression involving the names of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob we have a scripture coinage of an expression conveying essentially the material summarized in the first sentence of this paragraph. None of the words mention a covenant, nor that God faithfully makes covenants, then keeps them. But this is obviously the sense of the expression.

It is even confirmed in the New Testament. When the Sadducees asked an hypothetical question to prove He was in error about there being a resurrection,

"And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I [am] the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err." (Matthew 22:24-27)

So this "coined" expression should have told the Pharisees about the resurrection, for one is certainly needed for the Patriarchs who died in faith not having obtained the promises (Hebrews 11:13), but saw them and embraced them. God is God; believe Him. His memorial name says as much. Other names and titles - descriptive words - convey to our hearts the promise of God.
Not only is God loving and merciful, but He is Just and that means righteous. His words of promise or covenant to David (2 Samuel 7:15, 16) were remembered by him on his death bed (2 Samuel 23:5). "Ordered and sure" were terms he used to express the sense he had from the promise. Isaiah, "years afterward" describes their sense as "sure mercies of David":

"Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, [even] the sure mercies of David." (Isaiah 55:3)

There the words of assurance come from the mouth of the Lord in terms which men of faith in Israel could understand. Regretfully there are a lot of good Christians today who still do not understand them. Let me try to put it into language for all, trusting that many will begin to see these coinages in the Word, and pick up on eternal Truth.

David Was Promised A Kingdom
When David was dying he remembered that promise of a throne for His seed. David understood it to be an earthly throne, but the sense was so clear until he wrote a rather lengthy Psalm setting forth the elements of that promise and kingdom (See Psalm 89).
It should be clear there that the throne was for Christ, the seed of David (Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 16:5; Isaiah 22:22; Isaiah 37:35; Isaiah 55:3).

His dynasty should be everlasting (1 Kings 2:45; 1 Kings 5:5). Studying the promise to David we see that he was to be a shepherd over Israel permanently. David must have thought of this on his deathbed. But God is not above calling Christ David (Ezekiel 34:23, 24; Ezekiel 37:24, 25; Amos 9:11 (cf. Acts 15:16-18); Zechariah 12:8 -- Zechariah 13:1).
You should note that this was David's throne in Jerusalem, not in heaven. The kingdom was to be on earth and it should be without end (cf. Isaiah 24:22, 23).

This aside must not distract us from the sense of "shalt be" (Revelation 16:5). God has a way of creating, then explaining words and phrases, so we may have faith and commit ourselves to Him. He even calls those things which be not as though they were (Romans 4:17).

We have been observing usages of a word rendered "holy," "mercies," and "shalt be." When we look at the contexts of each and trace usages of these expressions we find that each one is explained so that faith can lay hold of the sense. "Mercies," or "sure mercies," even the use of David's name in connection with a covenant made with Him, lend to this word a sense that we need. Just as "I am that I am" becomes a memorial name for God, so "sure mercies" becomes a descriptive title.

Believing that this unchanging God is just that, unchanging, we are encouraged to believe Him. In the Old Testament an expression came to be used to emphasize one attribute of this covenant-keeping God - mercy, steadfastness, loving-kindness (a continuing aspect of His person), holy, righteous, and many others.
The context emphasizes and magnifies these terms in ways to make these elements of His Person meaningful to us. If one were ever inclined to blame God for anything which He has done, or allowed, a study of one or two words should dispel any idea that God is anything other than good.

A New Testament word often rendered "good," more often "kind" or "kindness," describes Him well. In the Old Testament a word (checed) occurring 248 times adequately encourages us to believe that He who knows the end from the beginning, and knows our frame, how weak we are, well sets forth His gracious ways. It is rendered "kindness," "mercy," "kindly," "loving-kindness," "goodness," "pity" and "favor." These are said to be everlasting, enduring forever. Surely this term becomes a hallmark of our God's nature
What God says can be depended on. What He does is always good and righteous and true. Even when it seems unreasonable to vain man, He is still the same yesterday today and for ever. He is Who and What He is, even when His people are unfaithful; He remains faithful. This means He is true to His word and His nature.

"For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed" (Malachi 3:6).

So the word we are considering (Greek, hosios) means, "consistent, like God." This includes "mercy," "kindness," "steadfastness," or "faithful" depending on the context. Basically, it is "intrinsically right," "rightness" which springs from the heart, from the nature, from deep within. God was right; He is right. That rightness covers His kindness, His graciousness, His steadfastness, His goodness, and His justice. It is ordered and sure (Acts 13:34). You can depend on it.

Finally, that quality of steadfastness is sought in His people. He wants them to lift up hands (1 Timothy 2:8) which reflect from deep within a faith in Him to make them right and to hear their prayers. He desires they be like Himself insofar as being conformed to His image is possible through faith and by grace.

It may discourage some students to learn that one word may be rendered in such different ways. Each rendering, however, contains something of the original sense -- "holy," "Holy One," "mercies," and "shalt be." Finding these differing renderings requires that one search from the original language. Doing this on the Greek word locates eight, and only eight, occurrences.

NOTE: Such a study requires some knowledge of Greek, or you may do it with certain books. If you have an Englishman's Greek Concordance you can do it, though it may be still necessary to know Greek letters, unless you have one of these with Strong's numbers for each word. This is the easiest and can be done without any knowledge of Greek. and if you have a computer which has a Bible program which incorporates Strong's numbers, as Online Bible. Even then you would have to find that number. With the computer you simply look up a passage which has such a program, using the reference to find it, or using the English concordance to find the passage. By asking for Strong's numbers each word in the passage will be given the number. That number can be used in the same way as the word it self. You will then see that the English rendering may not be consistent, as our word, hosios in the article above. Studying a number, or all, of the passages together will enable you to get the underlying meaning of the word.

It has been my experience that Greek Lexicons are not entirely satisfactory. Their compilers are not usually Baptists. Then their scholarship often is overwhelming, since they use several languages to illustrate or explain their reasoning in discovering the word's meaning. Usually these foreign languages are recorded in the alphabets of those languages and these may not be familiar either. Just remember, Truth is revealed to right hearts, not scholarship. Just read prayerfully and look to Him.